Continuing adventures of just a waiter - team building

I don't often talk about deficiencies at work, but today I do have one I have been thinking about a lot.  And, it's not a bad thing at all, just something that I believe we need to do at work.  That is team building.  In a senior community it is important that we act as a team.  It's good for the associates and I think it makes the residents happy when they know that everyone who works there is on the same page.

There have been a few instances of team building in the last few months that I've seen.  The managers all got together for a day off campus, which I'm sure they needed.  They're a pretty tight group already, though, so I hope that they will take their team building experience and let it trickle down to other groups.  Several departments have done some things over the past few weeks and as far as I know, they were successful.  My department hasn't done one since I've been there, but I definitely feel it is a possibility...just a matter of scheduling.

The team atmosphere is vital to an organization such as ours.  And you can definitely tell a difference when everyone is on the same team.  When I worked exclusively in assisted living, we were a total team.  It was amazing.  Wellness, dining, care services, housekeeping, maintenance, management...we all had the same goal of ensuring a quality of life for our residents.  We had each others' backs.  If I needed help in the dining room, one of the RA's was there.  If wellness needed help setting up, I was there.  That kind of thing.  It was wonderful!

It's not nearly that way in the independent living but that's ok for now.  The departments can be divided from each other fairly easily.  We coexist just fine, but it doesn't always feel like a team and that is something I feel we need to work on.  There are moments, it's just not as consistent as some of the other buildings.  One of the reasons for that is that we have so many residents in that building, that each associate really must focus on their specific job.  And that's as it should be, but I think we can do better in our associate relationships.  I would love it if we could do some cross team building experiences so that people from different departments would be together.

All in all, this is not a complaint but simply an observation.  We have a good atmosphere, but I know that we can do more on a daily basis.

That is all.